Missing conwoman Melissa Caddick’s husband has hit back after a coroner described his evidence about her disappearance as ‘riddled with inconsistencies’ and ‘simply untrue’.
Anthony Koletti was visibly furious after NSW Deputy State Coroner Elizabeth Ryan found he was likely aware of his some of his wife’s movements after she vanished but failed to disclose what he knew.
‘It’s disgraceful,’ Mr Koletti told Daily Mail Australia on Friday.
Ms Ryan took aim at Mr Koletti on Thursday when she handed down her final findings into Caddick’s sudden disappearance two-and-a-half years ago.
The fraudster went missing after ripping off $23million from investors, many of whom were immediate family and close friends.
She was last seen near her Dover Heights home in Sydney’s eastern suburbs on November 11, 2020, when her property was raided by Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) investigators.
Conwoman Melissa Caddick’s husband Anthony Koletti (above) has slammed a coroner’s findings he was likely aware of some of her movements in the days after she vanished but failed to disclose what he knew
Mr Koletti reported his wife missing on November 13, some 30 hours after she was believed to have been last seen.
In her findings Ms Ryan said Mr Koletti had not given ‘a full and frank account’ of what happened to the inquest.
‘I have formed the opinion that it is likely that on 13 November, 2020 Mr Koletti had some awareness of Ms Caddick’s movements over the previous two days, but chose not to disclose it,’ she said.
‘I accept that Mr Koletti’s inherent unreliability imposed upon the investigating police a significant burden.’
Mr Koletti shoved 60 Minutes reporter Tom Steinfort as he stormed towards his car outside the court complex at Lidcombe in Sydney’s west.
The hairdresser’s brother-in-law, Adam Grimley, was in the driver’s seat and loudly honked his horn as Mr Koletti barged his way inside.
Caddick’s husband Anthony Koletti (pictured together) did not report his wife missing until he contacted Rose Bay Police Station at 11.45am on November 13 – a full 30 hours after she was last seen
Ms Ryan said Mr Koletti was described during the investigation as the ‘most unimpressive and unreliable witness’, whose lack of candour was one of the reasons it was not possible to conclude why, how or when Caddick died.
She added Mr Koletti gave various accounts of what occurred during the days after Caddick’s disappearance – and that his lack of intellect was no reason why he could not provide an explanation.
‘Mr Koletti’s evidence at inquest was riddled with inconsistencies,’ Ms Ryan said.
‘It’s fair to say when he was not creating further inconsistencies, he was attempting to account for them with opaque and at times unintelligible explanations.’
Ms Ryan, who accepted Caddick was dead, found Mr Koletti had given multiple differing accounts of what happened in the time between November 11 and November 13.
‘Mr Koletti has not managed to explain the manifold contradictions within and between these accounts in any comprehensible way,’ she said.
‘Put simply the discrepancies are too numerous, and too persistent in nature, to be attributable to stress and (his) lack of intellectual sophistication.
‘The inescapable conclusion is that throughout the investigation and the inquest, Mr Koletti has chosen at times to make statements that are simply untrue.’
NSW Deputy State Coroner Elizabeth Ryan concluded that Melissa Caddick had died, but it was still unclear how or when she lost her life
Ms Ryan’s findings covered several aspects of Caddick’s disappearance, including theories as to how she died, the police investigation and her husband’s response.
Caddick’s foot was found washed up on Bournda Beach, 400km south of Sydney, in an ASICS shoe, in February 2021.
Ms Ryan shut down the long-running theory that Caddick could still be alive without her foot, and had potentially escaped overseas after somehow removing her leg.
Caddick’s foot was found washed up on Bournda Beach on the NSW south coast three months after she vanished
She said it was most unlikely Caddick’s foot had been removed deliberately either by herself or another person.
However, the cause of her death was still unclear. The coroner found there was not enough evidence to prove Caddick took her own life by jumping off the cliffs down the road from her home.
Ms Ryan said the inquest heard from forensic psychiatrist Dr Kerri Eagle who established Ms Caddick may have had narcissistic personality disorder.
She noted sufferers of this condition may be at risk of taking their own life if they suffered something that brought deep shame onto them. But that was not enough to prove suicide – a leading police theory.
Police had suspected Caddick took her own life by jumping off the cliff at Rodney Reserve, approximately 500m from her home, on the morning of November 12.
Ms Ryan could not make a finding with any certainty whether Caddick died with assistance from another person, or from misadventure.
‘I regret that positive findings cannot be made as to the cause and manner of Ms Caddick’s death,’ she said.
‘Her disappearance from her family in traumatic circumstances must be a source of deep and ongoing sadness for them.’
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